INFORMATION FOR EMPLOYERS

Are you fed up with recruiting engineers only to find out, when they start on site, that they’re simply not up to the job?

Do you spend too much on recruitment costs and still end up with engineers who have critical gaps in their skill set?

Do you wish that you could employ engineers who come with a hard and fast guarantee that they possess the necessary skills?

If you relate to any of these questions then you’re not alone. The good news is that we offer a watertight solution which guarantees that each candidate can carry out the full range of setting out activities that is required of them.

HOW DO WE DO THIS?!

Each candidate must complete a full day practical assessment in order to qualify for our Setting Out Certificate of Competence. As well as the technical competences, candidates are assessed for how they perform under pressure, work as a team and take responsibility for their own work.

We are also fully qualified to carry out a LAB (Language and Behaviour) profile of the candidate which can gauge how well suited they are to a specific role.

ENGINEERING EXPERIENCE

Saffron Grant BEng(hons) carries out all of the assessments and interviews for Setting Out for Construction. She is a Civil Engineer with 15 years direct experience of the construction industry experiencing many different perspectives working for Clients, Designers, Contractors, Local Authority and as a business owner. She is an approved trainer for Construction Skills, Associate Lecturer for Glasgow Caledonian University and a fully qualified NLP Master Practitioner. There is nobody better placed to assess and certify your future employees!

Photo by Martin Poole/Photodisc / Getty Images

WE SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS

Recruiters (including in-house HR) do not have hands on experience of setting out and therefore have to rely on CVs, interviews and references.

Many Site Agents and Site Managers to do not have direct experience of setting out, therefore they have to trust that best practice is being followed by engineers.

Technology such as the Total Station means that an engineer can carry out certain setting out tasks without actually being competent in some of the fundamental skills. This can give the illusion the Engineers is skilled and competent even if they are not actually following good practice or keeping the necessary records which support claims, compensation events and prevent setting out errors occurring.

WE ELIMINATE THE RISK

The assessment takes away the risk of appointing an engineer who is not up to the job. The costs associated with appointing the wrong person, even when a probation period is incorporated, are high and mean that as an employer you

are stuck with a sub- standard employee; or

spend money on bringing the engineer up to the appropriate standard; or

spend time and money to terminate the employees contract; and

spend time and money recruiting and inducting a replacement

A BIT MORE BACKGROUND

The slump is over and we are now bracing ourselves for the impending skills crisis in the construction industry (like a slow motion crash!).

Its less than 20 years since the last skills crisis when virtually anyone could get a job in the construction industry regardless of their qualifications or experience. We know from experience that under those conditions, poor quality site engineers can end up in a position of disproportionately high responsibility leading to financial and time delay costs

On top of this, recent research has shown that 90% of employers want qualifications that are better designed to meet their needs. In other words, college leavers and university graduates aren’t necessarily equipped with the specific skills they need to hit the ground running.

It is often the case that site agents, project managers, employers, recruiters who don’t have hands on experience of the position they are recruiting for. That’s because these days, site supervisors, site Managers and site Agents have arrived at that position via different career routes and so aren’t fully aware of how the competency of the Engineer impacts on the job.

It’s not unheard of for an engineer to blag their way through a situation, then move on to a new job and another engineer has to pick up and spend time finding out what’s wrong and then putting things right (if they themselves are indeed competent).

The transient nature of the construction industry means that site engineers move on and may have not left sufficient evidence of the work they have done.

Many setting out problems go unreported and unmeasured, so the magnitude of the issue is not known. This leads to short term problems plus long term problems (lack of records for claims and compensation events)